Mercato – Will Paris Saint-Germain finally recruit in Ligue 1?

Mbappé, the only Ligue 1 rookie in seven years

But yet, the French championship has not been favored by the Parisian club in recent history. As proof, the latest recruit made by PSG from Ligue 1 is none other than Kylian Mbappé… attracted in the summer of 2017! Since then, nothing. Or rather if, a series of negligence on the most interesting prospects of Ligue 1, all gone abroad (Fabinho, F. Mendy, Koundé, Leao…). Sometimes even starting from the Parisian club itself (Nkunku, Diaby)!

Recently, the Camavinga and Tchouaméni failures confirm another problem: even when PSG is interested in Ligue 1 talents, it comes up against the desire of young people to go abroad, the ferocity of French clubs financially. who logically want to take advantage of the power of Paris to drive up prices, and to stiff competition from rivals in Europe, who know that a PSG without the talents of the French championship in its ranks is a weakened PSG.

Because they have understood it well, and have been using it for years on the transfer market. All of Europe’s major companies first use their national network to expand their workforce. Liverpool, Bayern Munich, Real Madrid, or even Juventus (which remains a big player in Europe despite the last two complicated seasons) have a solid base in their team-type of players trained at the club or recruited in their respective championships . Paris must, and wants, to do the same.

Multiple but complicated tracks

While the transfer window has just officially opened, five names from Ligue 1 have already been associated with an arrival at PSG: Hugo Ekitike (Reims), Seko Fofana (Lens), Sven Botman (Lille), Lucas Paqueta and Malo Gusto (Lyon). Recruiting locally is one of the apparent priorities of new Portuguese sporting director Luis Campos, and it also seems to have been a determining factor in the negotiations leading to Kylian Mbappé’s new contract with the French champions. Additional proof of the supposed validity of this « made in France » recruitment.

Once all that said, it remains to be seen who can really join the Parisian ranks. Paqueta will not come, he who was above all Leonardo’s priority, and Ekitike seems to have an agreement with Newcastle for a transfer of 46 million euros. Fofana, Botman and Gusto are less of a dream, but are affordable for PSG and no less attractive on paper than some of the foreigner’s names hinted at in transfer window rumours. The change of course at PSG will go through this kind of recruits, and even if a recruitment in Ligue 1 will necessarily have its share of casting errors, not trying is an obvious guarantee of non-success.